AUGUST

The month of August is known for the “Dog Days Of Summer”.  It’s usually the hottest month around, making everyone feel lazy.  It’s also the month before fall where everything starts to change.  School goes back into session, temps start to drop to cooler weather, reminding us that winter is just around the bend.  The leaves start to change their colors

But for now we must contend with getting through the month of August.  It’s now at the end and only a day or two left and once again, it’s time for changes. 

I use to like August once upon a time.  The month use to mean that our County Fair back in IL was gearing up for another promising year.  I would start gathering my plastic canvas projects and get them ready to enter into the Stephenson County Fair, wondering if it would take a ribbon.  Our county fair would work hard to bring in country stars to perform at our fair and the price was very

reasonable.  We have seen stars like, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Statler Brothers, Loretta Lynne, and Toby Keith just to name a few.  Our girls would go with a group of their friends and ride on all the rides until they couldn’t ride anymore.  They even help shut down the fair in the evenings.  Then the last day Brian and I would enjoy the Demolition Derby, our favorite was when they brought in the compact cars.



Oh those were the days of August that I use to look forward to.  But now, August just seems to drag on and on…oh, if only I could turn back time…But I wouldn’t, you know…

GRAND JUNCTION, CO

We have now spent well over 4 months here at Grand Junction CO.  What do we think about it?

My personal humble feeling is this:  although we did meet a lot of good folks here in Grand Junction, I do not think it would be a choice of where I would ever really want to settle down. Why?  Again, we have met a lot of nice folks here, but on the other hand we found it to be not the friendliest places either.  Going shopping, if you smile at someone, they look at you as if you have just done something wrong.  While we spent seasonal summers in Mountain Home AR, if you smile at someone, they would smile back at you and even may say “hello”.

We notice that you also have to be a more defensive driver, because you just might get hit or rear-ended.   Since being here, we nearly missed getting reared in by another driver not paying attention, and there fore causing a chain reaction of cars getting hit, with us just barely getting missed by the car behind us.  One minor injury caused in that accident.  We had another incident where I noticed a truck out my rear-view mirror swerving in and out of cars, nearly hitting us.  If I hadn’t taken the shoulder-he would have hit us.  Again on another occasion a vehicle decided to make a right-hand turn from the far left side of the road-way, almost hitting the car next to us and us!

The cashiers at the store makes you feel like you shouldn’t be in their lane checking out and are annoyed that you did check out with them.  There is even one checker at one of the Wal-Mart that will freely give you her opinion; whether you want it or not.  We have learned to avoid checking out with her whenever we see her as a checker.

Now I’m not totally putting down Grand Junction for there are some positive and upbeat to it.  When I needed to get my foot checked, you just don’t call a doctor and get in.  So I ended up going to an Urgent Care Center with Community Hospital.  They treated me well and acted as though I was a human being, not just another sick person or a statistic.  When I was able to get to a foot surgeon, I ended up going to Patterson Ankle & Foot specialist and the Doctor that I had did a wonderful job getting my back on my foot again.  She was awesome and if ever I had to go again-I would go back to her.

We did give Grand Junction a lot of business this summer, with my foot surgery,  to finding a good dentist, going to Midas to fix our A/C and breaks on the car.  Buying a new computer, and  last but not least, buying at the local department stores.

There is also many things to see and do while in or near Grand Junction.  You have the National Monument (which by the way, if you own a dog, they are allowed in the campground, but not on any of the trails) and the Dinosaur Museum is not far from the West entrance.  The Book Cliff mountains and Mount Garfield (which you might find wild horses on the back side) are spectacular to view, the James M. Robb Colorado River State Parks (Island Acres, Connected Lake, Corn Lake & Fruita), Palisade Wineries (That do Peach Festival in August and the Wine Festival in Sept), and don’t forget to take the tour up onto the Grand Mesa where there is over 50 lakes, a visitor center along with resorts, camping and hiking trails.  Also if you plan your trip maybe at the right time, you just might get in on the Country Jam in June or the Rock Jam in Aug that goes on near Grand Junction.

Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, it’s a beautiful place to check out and explore and the landscape is amazing.  I wish we would have had more time to do more things, but we didn’t.  So that means sometime down the road, we will need to come back again, but this time to explore more and work less.

COLORADO RIVER AT NORMAL

Since arriving to Island Acres, we watch as the Colorado river rise, putting everyone on alert to flooding.  They feared that the Day-Use area would be the first to go under and then maybe a couple of our campsites.



Then at one of our sister park, the berm broke away while a park ranger was checking for stability, causing for an emergency shut down to any trails along the river banks.  The park ranger was safe and was able to pull himself back up.

Now that the snow run off has stopped and the rain being sporadic, we finally are seeing the Colorado River for what it is, with a constant motion and ripples.  Rocks and boulders are starting to appear once again.  Rafters are back out having a good time. 

water rushing over the rocks as they show their appearance

Great Blue Heron perched on a rock in the Colorado River

The Island where bears have been known to cross over and come over towards us.

Unfortunately the River still continues to claim a lives.  In one incident a down tree was across a big portion of the river, causing many to divert.  Not knowing if the tree was the actual cause of the drowning or not, authorities decided not to take any more chances.  So calling in the bomb squad, clearing the area, the tree became an instant debris field, which has now been cleaned up.

With the river going back down to normal, we have been told that bears will cross over in a couple of sections, so I wonder if I will finally get to see one?

ANOTHER CAMPING EXPERIENCE

A while back we did our first camping trip up on the Grand Mesa.  We tried to get near Bonham Lake, and couldn’t.  Upon finding the “perfect” camping spot it started to storm-forcing us to sleep in our small Chevy Tracker.  The next day we found another camping spot, got set up enjoyed a great lunch, and then comes yet another storm, followed by several more behind that one.  Making our first outing a very wet camping experience.

Knowing that our time is winding down, we still wanted to try again to camp on the Grand Mesa. So packing up on Saturday night, making arrangements to get off work one hour earlier, with thunder head clouds looming close by once again, we took off for our second camping adventure on the Grand Mesa.

The last time we did this trip, we turned into what we thought was a driveway to someone’s home in the Grand Mesa National Forest, but turned out to be the maintenance yard for the forestry and that the road actually comes around to the North end of Bonham Lake.  This is where we found the perfect camping spot.



There was only two downfall to the spot we choose, but we soon learned to live with those minor imperfection.  One was chasing cows away from our site.  The other downfall was we were down winded from the maintenance yard where apparently they use it and run a generator from 8-4. 
Even though we had looming thunder heads close to us, we only got a sprinkle late the first night after we went to bed.

who was ever in this spot previously was gracious enough to leave us some cut down wood and along with what we brought, we had plenty to keep fires going for the two nights and to warm our bodies in the mornings.

So, after setting up camp, we walked around and talked with a fellow camper who brought their 5th wheel in.  It was then time to start a fire, only to learn that the matches we brought with us had a bad striker and could not get a matches to light!  Brian even tried to get the match going by using the cigarette lighter in the car and it still wouldn’t stay lit.  After several failed attempts, he finally walked down to our fellow campers to see if they had some “good” matches.  While he was gone, I got the cig lighter going, ran over to the campfire, lit the match and manage to get the wadded up paper to finally light!  So when Brian got back I had a wonderful camper fire going and was doing the “dance”.  I was really proud of myself!



We ended up with several unwanted guest towards dusk and had to chase them away-cows!   They were invading on us and it was time to head them in another direction.  An hour later, here came another group of cows.  Our campsite must have looked appealing to them, and once again we had to chase them away.  Did I mention I hate cows?….

We were awoken the next morning to first a bird called that sounded like a puppy crying and then those dump ole’ cows mooing and bawling.  It was very chilly and a camp fire was needed to help warm our bodies while the coffee was being brewed. 
Upon going for a morning stroll, we looked back at our nice camp site and once again the cows were coming up behind us.  We walked back and decided that they were far enough behind and didn’t they would invade our site while gone. 
We took the hiking/OHV trail for a mile or two and then decided it was time to head back before we did get ourselves lost.  We were surrounded by combinations of Aspen and Pines. 



Upon returning back to our campsite, those cows were getting very close to us once again.  So Brian went to chase them away, however one bull was going to stand his ground and I was beginning to wonder who was going to win.  Brian blew the air horn and I guess the bull didn’t like it-so he turned around, leading the rest  of the herd to follow him.  We no longer had anymore issues for the remainder of our stay with the cows.

With the weather being perfect and the sun out bright we decided to take the canoe out on the lake.  This would be Leah’s first time in our canoe and we wonder how she would do.  She kept hanging on the edge, trying to bite at the little waves we created.  I was so worried that she would jump out.  We took her leash and strapped it the middle seat.  Brian told me to let her go and if she did jump in, he would rescue.  sure enough before long I heard a loud splash and as I looked back she was swimming in the cold water!  Brian scooped her up and for the rest of the ride, the canoe felt it was hitting bottom as she shivered.  I bet she doesn’t do that again!

For the remainder of our time, we did have thunder clouds loom by and some really loud thunder, but never any rain and our trip was spectacular and the most enjoyable camping experience we had thus far.



We did forget some vital essentials like; paper plates-we ate cannibal style and loved it.  We forgot our suntan lotion and got burned like a lobster.  We forgot knives-fingers worked great (clean ones-mind you).  The worse were our matches-but other campers came to our rescue.

Who could have asked for anything better?  We hiked, canoed, sat by a wonderful camp fire, cooked on the fire and just enjoyed each other’s company with no TV, cell phone or computer.  I think more couples should do this….

CANYON WINDS

Sitting between two canyon walls can create unexpected winds what seems like they come out of nowhere.

In the springtime, the winds would kick up and I could sit up at the office and watch the waves on the small lake.  At first they would be going in one direction and just like drop of a dime-the winds would switch direction.

As we fade in and out of the Monsoon season, once again, the winds are unpredictable.  The last several nights between 6:30 and 7:30 pm out of nowhere the winds would kick up as if a storm was coming in-but we received no rain or storms.

The other night as we were sitting and relaxing the winds again kicked up out of nowhere and rolled through the canyon walls.  As we looked at each other and wonder what the heck-when I looked out and see the diesel pusher’s just across from us, awning taking flying lesson! 
Knowing they were an older couple and they had just got home from the peach fest, I told Brian that they need our help.

As we went over here was two older gentleman and one lady trying to keep the awning from flying over and doing any more damage to the motorhome.  So Brian and came to the rescue to help out.
As we were trying to help and figure out what to do, I notice that his awning over the door was the next thing to take flight, so I suggest that we hold the one down while he puts up the other awning.
We finally manage to get the awning somewhat rolled up and the arms down.  The good news is that the group he was with was having an awning guy come out the next day and he would have that guy look at his to see what he could do until he got back to South Dakota where he was from.

Later on, while outside talking to our park ranger,this gentleman came over to us with a bottle of wine.  He told us that we would not find that wine anywhere around here.  It was called Red Ass Rhubarb Wine. 

The awning guy did come out and got his awning fixed up enough for him to get back to South Dakota where he will probably have to have a new one put one.   So all was not lost to this crazy canyon wind.  The next morning, a camp host brought up a tent that almost landed into one of our fishing lakes.

THE GROSGROVE FIRE

As we were coming back from our quick two day trip towards Denver, about five miles from our campground, we noticed an orange helicopter coming down towards the Colorado River.  He stayed down for just a minute, then up he went, with his snorkeling looking thing handing down.  As we notice him going towards the cliffs, we then also notice the smoke rising.

Our first comment was how close was it to our campground!?!?  Brian was able to get some pretty good shots of him going back towards the fire.



As we got off the at our exit (47), we say yet another helicopter coming down right near Island Acres Day-Use area.  I was able to pull off and get some awesome pictures!





As days go by we learned that the fire is behind the Small Bookcliffs on BLM land where the wild horses roam.  The fire was caused by  lightening from several days back and was left to burn.  Pinion and Juniper trees are not native trees/brush to this area and was overtaking the natural vegetation that is vital to the wild horses; therefore the fire would help restore the vegetation.  The wild fire was in no immediate danger of personal property or the State Park.

I went on the Internet and found a very interesting article on the fire.  They had several hot shots staying up there to maintain the fire and to make sure it did not get near any private property.  The only way to get to this fire was either with 4 wheelers or by air.  the guys that were up there had to have their meals dropped in by plane.  They received one hot meal and two cold meals per day.  They were ready and considering starting back-fires to help keep it under control.  We are not sure if they actually had to do that or not. 

One night while at work, the glow and the smoke really looked scary, and it appeared it would come over the cliff towards the park.



The fire never did get close to us.  However, with the winds kicking up, they did start to get concern that it was heading towards private property, and then the rain came and knocked the fire down.  The fire is now 100% contained and the wild horses are safe once again.

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part Three

After a somewhat restful sleep at Lake Dillon, we got up and headed out.  I slept ok, but Brian was worried about me, so he didn’t sleep very good.  Anyways when we woke, the temp had to be near 40 degrees and tearing down camp became very cold on our hands.




In our haste the night before, Brian accidentally spilled what coffee grounds we had, so we had no coffee to help warm us up until we got to a gas station.  After fueling the car and our tummies with hot coffee, it was time to adventure on back home.  My breathing went back to normal and the wheezing had stopped-but I still felt low key and low energy-but I wasn’t going to give in.

As we headed westbound on I-70 the temps slowly warmed up.  It was time to shed the jogging outfits and put on shorts, and finally put more than coffee into our bellies, oh and of course-feed Leah.

We made a stop at a rest area that also was the entrance to the Hanging Lake Trail.  We had all good intentions of hiking on this trail.  However, first sign we saw said no dogs allowed on the trail!  Well that sucked, for we obviously could not leave her in the car either!  So the trail would have to wait for another time….We do understand why and the reasoning why dogs are not allowed on the trail, and therefore will by by the rules.

So back on the Interstate heading homeward bounds.  Next rest stop and pull off was fascinating to us.  We discovered where they put in for rafting on the Colorado River and was fun to watch them get ready to head down the river.  This was called Grizzly Creel Rest Stop.



We had to laugh at this one poor guide.  He was trying to get those on the right side of the raft to start paddling-and all they wanted to do was wave at us while I took their pictures.  The river guide had to do everything from keeping them from going in constant circle with no help from his crew mate!  It was funny, and they did finally headed downriver-in the right direction.

Next stop was back to Rifle where we picked up a pizza and headed towards Rifle Gap to rest and eat.  After a rest, we headed to Rifle Falls where we finally was able to hike a little and even taken our little girl with us.






Wished we would have grabbed our flashlights our of the car.  We knew there were some caves, but not sure how far they really went in and without flashlights and having Leah with us-we didn’t explore any farther than the entrance to the caves.

After walking a while, I was once again feeling not so good and it was just time to head back home.  I think with the elevation I may have developed a sinus infection.  We will do this trip again, when we have more time to allow are bodies to adjust to the elevation.  It’s trip well worth and hope that others enjoy the beauties of the Rockies as we sure did!

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part Two

After turning back around at the Georgetown exit, it was time to head towards Breckenridge, where we will try to find us a camping spot for the night.  The descend downwards was a long haul and the road construction made it even harder-specially to truckers.  We actually had one trucker just ahead of us that had to use the runaway ramp.  We think he was having more engine trouble than brake trouble.
We couldn’t help but laugh at the signs on the Interstate that stated something like this:  “Lost brakes?  don’t take the exit, the road ascends just ahead…”  I know it’s really not funny, but just sounded funny.  The other sign that caught our eye was:  “Truckers don’t be fool, descend for another (number) of miles.”

We decided that we will have no trouble taking our  motorhome through the Rockies.  the worst descend for us will be in the heart of Denver-or so we are told, but I think we will be just fine.  So now comes some fun time…..

You could easily see that the town of Breckenridge was not only a college community but also a richly ski resort community.  You saw no run down homes, and again all carried the Swiss Alpine looks.
After carefully reading the instructions to the Lower Chrystal Lake, and taking only two wrong turns, we finally found our destination and found it-disappointing.  According the directions and usage guide-it stated “mildly busy”.  To us we would think a few cars, and some hikers-NOT!  The parking lot was over flowing.  We put the car into 4-wheel drive and went just in a little ways deeper into the Crystal Lake area.  Found a camping spot, but wasn’t totally sold on it.
Time to grab a snack and then hike further on up-maybe in hopes of finding the Crystal Lakes and maybe another camping spot.





As we walked, we kept ascending, making our breathing a little labor.  We only went so far and decided that this just wasn’t the spot for us.  time to look at the map and maybe find another camping spot.  It wasn’t quite noon-so we still had plenty of time to find something.

We continue farther down on HWY 9 with intentions of taking a loop cross country on 4 wheel drive.  I knew we would find a camping spot along the way that would be remote and quiet for us.
As we kept ascending up hill we wonder what we were getting ourselves into when we came upon Hoosier Pass on the Continental  Divide!  I was so excited to be on the divide and wanted to explore the area a little.

As we walked around, we found the perfect campsite that would suit us just fine.  It was time to set up camp for the night and hunt down some wood.  Wood finding was easy, for many fallen pine tress were on the ground-dead from the beetles.



Now it’s time to hike up the Continental Divide and be in the heart of the Rockies.  What an awesome experience!!!



The view was so breath taking that I had to stop and take constant pictures.







As we walked, we kept climbing higher and higher, and decided that our lungs and heart needed a rest, so back down to our campsite we headed.  Sure wish we had more time to spend in this area, but we would need our bodies time to rest for the height of the elevation that we were on.



After finishing cutting our wood, starting a campfire it was time to get something to eat and just sit back and relax.  As we are relaxing, I finally realized I had lost my watch.  The watch meant a lot to me, since Brian bought is special for me over 17 years ago.  But I think when I picked up Leah, the clasp must have come undone and therefore was lost at the Continental Divide.  There was no way we were about to climb back up to find it.  So it was a sad time for me…

As the evening went on, my breathing started to get more labor, my sinus completely shut down and my face started to swell a little.  Brian said I was getting paler by the minute and then I started to feel sick.  If I got up, everything would spin.  It was decided that I was getting altitude sickness and we would need to get to lower elevation.  Thinking our camping trip was done and we would head back home, I really felt sad that this had to happen.  Poor Brian had to pack everything back up on his own and we had to head on down.

As we got down to Lake Dillon, about 1000 feet lower, I was already feeling better.  I told Brian I would feel fine if we would spend the night at lake Dillon.  I would rather camp there than try to drive all the way back to our park in the dark.  So we found a nice spot at Lake Dillon on the White
I think if we would have more time at the higher elevation and rested before exploring,  I would not had that trouble.  But we were on a short time schedule…

Part Three will continue on our saga heading back on I-70 Westbound-homeward bound.

TRIP TO THE ROCKIES-Part One

It’s Sunday afternoon and been a bit of a stressful week for me, I’m so ready to get out and go adventuring,  Our first plan was to head out early Monday morning, but instead we finished packing and headed out Sunday afternoon.

First stop was to the Wal-Mart in Rifle to get just a few groceries for our little trip.  As Brian is getting supplies, I looked at the map and found maybe a possible campground near exit 133 off of I-70.
Our first night out was near a place called Dotsero,Co.  I know a weird name for a town or rather a very small community.  Anyways we got off onto a dirt/gravel road that at first we thought was all private land.  Then we crossed a cattle guard and now we are in the White River National Forest with pull off campsites.  We saw the first site, but it appeared that we would be camping right on the roadway, so we moved onto another spot. 

the site we choose was big with many shade trees surrounding us.  First order of business was getting the tent set up and getting supper.  Brian sets up the tent, while I cooked burgers and fried potatoes over our camp stove.  Leah’s job was to alert us of any unwelcome visitors that may happen by-since we were in bear country-her job was very important.



After getting set up and filling our tummies, it was time to explore our surrounding.  We had a rushing creek very near to us and it would lull us to sleep that night.



A third mile up the road we found a fairly new vault toilets and a huge area where it appears they use to load and unload horses.  We also discovered that the road did a few switchbacks that climbs higher up the ridge above us.  We also found a trail that we did not take-due to it becoming dark and not safe to be out on at that time of the evening.  So it was time to go back start a campfire and enjoy a few drinks and each others company.  But most of all-time to RELAX and ENJOY mother natures beauty.

We did have one visitor-human nature.  Some road construction guys wanted our spot to camp at for they were going to be in the area working.  Brian told them they could have it the next morning a we would be moving on.  They were cool with that and apparently found another spot for the night.
After a very restful sleep and using our new air mattress, it was time to tear down camp, brew some coffee and head on down the road on I-70.  First stop for the morning was at rest stop to feed Leah her breakfast and to fill our tummies as well.

We found the drive on !-70 from West to East to be spectacular with views of the Rockies.  It was hard to try not to constantly take photos of the scenic drive.  What amazed me the most was the ski resort towns and communities.  One in mind was Vail Colorado.  The town was banked up against the Rockies on both side of the Interstate.  When traveling through most towns and cities along any Interstate, usually gives you exits about every mile or so-not so with the towns in the Rockies.  You were lucky to come to an exit about every 5 miles.  So could you imagine that you live on one side of the Interstate and then have to travel a ways to cross over to the other side-specially during the winter time when snow is the heaviest?  All the ski resort communities along the Interstate remind me the homes and business that one would see in the Swiss Alps.

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There were several scenic pull offs that we took to stop and take some photos.  The air was refreshing and the view just awesome! 



At one point we were ascending, but it appeared we were descending and I thought we were having transmission trouble.  After pulling over to have Brian check on our engine, he stated that even though it looks like were going down hill, we actually were not.  Then it was time to head through the Eisenhower Tunnel.

We traveled as far as Georgetown before deciding to turn around and head back towards Lake Dillon.  Our plan was to stay out on National Forest once again.  I had found a place near Lower Chrystal Lake where we would make our camp for the night and do some hiking in hopes of finding some old mining camps.

Part two of our trip coming up next….

WEEKS GONE BY

As we are nearing the month of August, we are also in our Monsoonal season here in Colorado.  What does that mean for us?  Well it appears that when ever we try to plan an outing on our days off, it wants to rain on our parade.

This week is no different.  We want to take an adventure up to Rifle State Park and Rifle Gap and we also want to take a two day trip to Denver and back and it’s once again to be stormy, so we have postpone both things for another week.

Last week it was a nice week on our two days off, but having to work mainly afternoon and evenings and helping the park get ready for a state inspection, we were just too tired to do an adventure, so we stuck around and rested up.  Now we are ready to go, but don’t want to head out in rain again.

We sit and look and the calendar, and before we know it, it will be time for us to head down the road once again.  We have made the 19th of Sept our last day here with the Colorado State Park and yet we hardly have done a thing.

Having foot surgery held us up for a couple of the months that we were here, now it’s the rain.  Do you suppose someone is trying to tell us something?

It appears no matter where we land our feet, it always seems to be nice for the weekend campers, and nasty on our two days; maybe it’s time to do the nomad wondering that we fist wanted to do, that way, it can rain on any day and it won’t matter to us.

REFLECTIONS

One of the things that I enjoy doing-besides writing, is taking pictures.  I’m by far no professional, but I on an amateur level, I think I do pretty good.

On calm days overlooking a lake, I love to watch reflections in the water, then I will shoot several pictures of the calm water. 

Here at Island Acres we have two small fishing lakes and on calm days the cliffs will reflect beautifully off the water.  Here are some pictures that I have taken.